Take 24 finalists in the 2008 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards programme, fly them halfway round the world, give them a one-day crash course in CSR before dumping them in rural Haiti. Make them sleep in tents in sweltering humidity, add some sand, bad roads, a few late nights and some mosquitos. Finally, expose them to the life of grinding poverty endured by most Haitians. Does it awaken their CSR?
PATSY CARNEY
"On the first day it was a case of what are we doing here. By the second day it began to crystallise a bit," explains EirGen Pharma managing director Carney, who was a member of the group that visited a school and a teacher- training college in La Caye. "After talking to some 20 teachers, we began to think there is something we could do here," he says.
The decision to combine the more ambitious part of the project - upskilling the teachers via technology - with a more practical element - providing benches for the classrooms - was due in part of the advice of another group member Liam Nellis, the chief executive of Intertrade Ireland. Nellis stressed the importance of first building trust before making big promises, explains Carney.
The group hopes to source desks from another project connected to the Soul of Haiti initiative, a joinery workshop being supported by another group. The other element of the project will take longer, with the next academic year set as the target date. Carney and his business partner Tom Brennan are also trying to source low-cost drugs for a clinic near to Port Salut.
DONAL O'RIAIN
"It was an interesting experience; a very interesting opportunity to look at the day-to-day problems of trying to generate economic activity and remove bottlenecks," according to O'Riain.
The Ecocem managing director was part of a team that followed up on work last year on a degraded dam and irrigation system on the Torbeck river, which provides irrigation for about 1,500 smallholders and some 10,000 people.
A group of last year's finalists had arranged to have some remedial work done on the dam at a cost of $15,000 (€9,500). It was a temporary solution because the severe deforestation in that part of Haiti means that flash-flooding will quickly block the dam.
The solution is reforestation of the catchment area, and the group plans to work alongside a $50 million (€32 million )project that will be undertaken by the Haitian government. In particular, they will look at the feasibility of marketing the carbon credits generated by the reforestation.
LORD KILCLOONEY
If CSR is a matter of getting involved in the community, then the Alpha Newspaper Group is already there, according to its owner Lord Kilclooney. The group has 25 regional weekly titles spread through the North and the midlands, all of which support local clubs, schools and events. The visit to Haiti left a strong impression on the former Ulster Unionist MP. "I was horrified that a country that is only a one hour flight from the richest region in the world could be so poor," he says. He was involved with the group helping fishermen in the village of St Jean du Sud, where the programme has provided a new boat and safety equipment. It is now looking at trying to help the community to preserve and sell the fish they catch.
His interaction there confirmed for him that the fundamental problem is the lack of political stability and a functioning democracy. "I suggested to the committee [of eight local women] that they should use the local mayor. They were horrified at the suggestion. He is elected, but he is not trusted," he says.
